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"Time:
A Double-Edge Sword"
(A Business' Friend, Or Foe?)
By Kenny Love
In relation to your Internet business, can you think of ways
that "time" is your friend? On the other hand, can you think
of ways that it is also your enemy?
Well, in regard to friendship, time is, inarguably, a friend
in that we can now, through the revolutionary technology known as Email,
transmit letters, notes, messages, and any other correspondence across the
world in a matter of seconds.
This is opposed, contrastly, to the pre-Web days when we
relied solely and exclusively on the U. S. Postal service or other mailing
services. These services often resulted in late messages, lost messages,
postage and shipping costs.
Even when the fax machine made its heralding debut on the
business stage, it still costs the same rate as using a telephone. And,
even more so, depending on the quantity of documents one needed to transmit to
another party.
Yes, time (and expense as well) were definitely on our side as
this new technology only costs most businesses a local telephone call through
their Internet Service Provider.
But, what about "time" as an Internet business
enemy? Well, as many Internet businesses are one-person operations, there
still exists the requirement to promote the business' product or service
competitively and extensively.
This includes online promotion through appropriate e-zines,
articles, discussion lists, opt-in direct mail, search engines, links, online
news services, announcement sites, and more.
Then, if your business becomes a significant success from
online promotion, you may also decide to promote it using offline sources for
expansion purposes. This offline arena might include radio, print, and
television news releases and advertisements, along with many other options.
Now, try to imagine one person efficiently managing and
performing all of these online and offline duties, while at the same time,
fulfilling product, service, or information demands. It makes your bones
shiver, doesn't it? Now, that we are aware of an oncoming migraine
headache if we undertake these tasks on our own, what's the solution?
One, and possibly the only viable solution, is to use the
tactic of many a warrior...and that is, to divide and conquer. In other words,
dividing and assigning these various promotional tasks into hourly and daily
breakdowns.
For instance, 1-2 hours could be spent on forwarding news
releases, 1 hour could be used for writing and placing e-zine ads, and yet
another hour could be spent on search engine listings, etc. This system,
executed on a daily basis would leave, virtually, no stone unturned, so to
speak.
Some facets will bear repeating later, such as search engine
listings every 4-6 weeks, while news releases on a particular product or
service is, generally, a one-shot deal.
Again, continuing in this manner through a bonafide scheduled
plan of action will provide the maximum amount of exposure for your business
while insuring no holes in your promotional campaign are left uncovered.
Pool, Summer 2000
About
Kenny Love
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